


After all this time~Beverly Marsh X Reader

by EddieTrashmouth



Series: Girls like Girls [2]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Child Abuse, F/F, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Suicide, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-23 13:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23545588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EddieTrashmouth/pseuds/EddieTrashmouth
Summary: It's twenty seven years after the Losers club was taunted by Pennywise the clown. Everyone's forgotten the events of that summer, the forbidden romances. They've even forgotten each other, save for Richie and Y/N, as they're related. Everyone's forgotten until they all get a call from an unknown number from Derry, their old hometown.All triggers in tags!
Relationships: Beverly Marsh/Reader, Bill Denbrough/Beverly Marsh, Original Character(s)/Reader
Series: Girls like Girls [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694491
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

I'm in my car, driving back to my house. I had just got done grocery shopping, and my son, Luke, was crying in the backseat. "Luke, we're almost home, you'll get your candy then." I reassure him, but he only cries louder. Groaning, I rub my forehead with my hand. He's five years old, but still acts like a three year old sometimes. I blame it all on my girlfriend, Cassie, who spoils him constantly.

My phone rings and I look at it, seeing it's from Derry, Maine. Immediately the scar on my hand stings, making me look at it. I decide to call whoever it is back as soon as I get home, because I'm driving right now and Luke's crying is distracting me enough.

As soon as we get home I unbuckle Luke and carry the groceries in with the help of Cassie. Luke makes a beeline toward the bags once all of them are in the house, grabbing his candy bar from one of them and running into the living room to eat it. "Hey, no eating in the living room, how many times do I have to tell you this?" He comes running back in here, already covered in chocolate. "Sorry, mommy. I forgot." I smile and kiss him on the forehead. "It's okay." He's so adorable I can never stay mad at him.

I'm putting away the groceries when my phone rings again. It's that same person from Derry. "Hey, Cass, I have to get this, be right back." She nods and I walk out back, answering the phone.

"Hello?" I ask, nervously. For some reason the thought of someone from back home calling me makes me nervous. Not just nervous, scared. "Hey, is this Y/N?" The other person asks. I nod before realizing they can't see me and face palming. "Yes, this is her." I respond. "I called earlier, but you didn't answer, sorry if you're busy, this is kind of important." I smile. The voice sounds familiar now, but I can't put a face to it.

"It's fine, I was driving. Who is this?" The other voice quickly responds. "Right, sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Mike. Mike Hanlon." Immediately thousands of memories flood my brain from my childhood. One face in particular sticks out. A girl. With fire red hair, and emerald green eyes. Beverly Marsh.

"Mike, hey! It's good to hear from you. Why are you calling?" There's a sigh on the other end. "IT's back, Y/N. You need to come back." I don't remember what this IT is he's talking about, but whatever it is, I know it's important. I sigh. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as possible. Do I need to reserve a room somewhere or-" He cuts me off. "No, no. Everything's already covered. Just try to get here as soon as possible." My heart beats rapidly in my chest as I say "Okay, goodbye." And hang up.

I take a few minutes to calm myself before making my way into the house again. Cassie immediately walks over. "Y/N, are you okay? You're really pale. What happened?" I smile uneasily at her. "I um, I need to leave for a few days. I shouldn't be gone for too long. Maybe like a week or two? I can't really explain it, but I have to. I'm sorry it's such short notice, Cass." She furrows her brows. "Where are you going, and why are you being so secretive?" I sigh and grab her hand, but she pulls it away.

"Cassie, I can't explain it, but I promise, I will when I get back." She shakes her head. "No. I bet you're cheating on me, aren't you? Is that why you're being so secretive?" I shake my head and grab her hands. "No, Cassie, I would never cheat on you, I promise." She scoffs and pulls her hands away. "Then why can't you tell me where you're going?" At this moment Luke comes in here, tugging on my shirt. "Mommy, what's happening?" I smile at him, grabbing his hand and crouching down to his level.

"Just go up to your room for a few minutes, okay?" He nods and walks away upstairs and into his room. I stand up and smile reassuringly at Cassie. "Cass, I would never cheat on you. I love you." She scoffs again, and her eyes are glazed over. "Yeah? Then tell me where you're going and why." I sigh and look her in the eyes. "I'm going to my hometown for a reunion with some of my friends from middle school." A tear drifts down her cheek. "Well why can't Luke and I come with you then? And why should they matter, they were from middle school. I can't even remember middle school, let alone who I was friends with."

I take a deep breath. "You guys just can't come with me, okay? And we went through a lot together." She glares at me and stomps upstairs to our room, me following. "I love that you think I would believe that, Y/N. If you were over me, you could have just told me." She laughs dryly as she starts packing her things. "We're over, you can go have fun with these 'friends' okay?" She throws clothes in a bag messily. "I'll be back for the rest of my things in a week, and I won't be watching Luke while you're off doing this 'reunion.' Have a nice life, Y/N." And with that, she runs downstairs and out the front door, slamming it behind her.

I sigh and run a hand through my H/L, H/C hair, sinking down to the floor. Luke walks in here, sitting down next to me on the floor. "Mommy, what happened?" I look at him, and my heart breaks a little. The only parents he had known just broke up, one of them left without so much as a goodbye. "Um, Luke, honey, Cassie left." His eyes fill with tears. "Why?" I grab his hand. "We got in a fight." He starts to cry. "Why didn't she say goodbye?" I hug him, and he buries his head in my shoulder. "I don't know, Luke." The shoulder of my shirt dampens, but I don't say anything.

Eventually his crying stops and I get up, packing a bag. "Are you leaving too, mommy?" I nod and look at him. "Only for a few days, okay? I promise I'll come back." His eyes fill with tears again. I call the babysitter quickly, asking if she can come over and watch him for about a week. "Promise?" He asks, making grabby hands for me. I lift him onto my hip and smile at him. "Promise." He smiles a little and I wipe away his tears, taking him downstairs.

The babysitter soon gets here. "Thank you so much, Emily. I'm sorry it's such short notice." She smiles. "Don't worry about it, it's perfectly fine." I smile back and crouch down to Luke's level, hugging him quickly. "I love you. See you in a few days, okay? Promise." He smiles at me as well. "Love you, mommy." I wave and walk out the door, starting the long drive from New York to Maine.


	2. Chapter 2

Halfway through the drive, Richie calls me. I answer, putting him on speaker. "Hey sis. We were planning on meeting at Jade of the Orient for dinner tomorrow, is that okay?" I grip the steering wheel tighter, my knuckles turning white. "Yeah, that's fine." He chuckles on the other line. "I can tell you're stressing yourself out, chill. Everything's gonna be fine, okay?" I loosen my grip on the wheel, feeling a little calmer with the help of his words. "Okay, I'm gonna leave you be because I know it's a really long drive." "Okay, thanks Richie." I can practically hear him smiling. "No prob, sis."

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After the extremely long drive I finally pull up to the little motel. Sighing, I get out of the car and grab my bag, slamming the door shut behind me and making sure to lock it. I walk into the motel and take my key, running up to my room.

I place my duffel bag on my bed and look at the time, seeing it's only 3:00. I sigh and lay down on the bed, deciding to take a nap because I haven't slept since the night before yesterday.

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The alarm I set goes off, waking me from my sleep. I feel a little better now, but not a lot. Stretching, I turn off my alarm and get up. It's 5:00 now, and we decided to meet at 6. I quickly shower and change clothes, drying my hair as well.

I change into a purple shirt and a pair of jeans, something simple. Sighing, I tie my red converse. They're not the same pair as what I had when I was a kid, but they're still the same color. My old ones got destroyed when Richie decided it would be fun to burn stuff. My shoes had to suffer because of that. Luckily I made him get me another pair.

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I get out of the car at the Chinese place. Richie had just pulled up, and he was walking towards the door. Beverly was there, hugging Ben. He had lost a lot of weight since I had last seen him. I wouldn't be surprised if him and Beverly ended out together after all.

I walk over to the door and Beverly turns towards me. "Oh, hey, Y/N. How have you been?" She asks, sending me a awkward smile. I shrug. "I've been better." I reply, going inside so we don't have to continue this awkwardness. Richie, Ben, and Bev all follow.

Somehow Richie ends up in front of me by the time we reach the room Mike reserved for us. He hits the gong thing, making everyone turn to him. "This meeting of the losers club has officially begun." Eddie stars at him awkwardly as he gestures to Ben and makes a fat gesture. I sigh and pull him over to the table, making him sit down.

The food soon arrives, and we start eating. Everyone's drinking, except for me. I had sworn off alcohol a while ago, because of a bad party. I had also sworn off parties then.

"So wait Eddie, you got married?" Richie asks. "Yeah why's that so fucking funny dickwad?" He responds defensively. "What, to like a woman?" Eddie acts offended as he responds with a "Fuck you, bro." Which honestly surprises me. I thought he was 100% gay. Guess not.

"Fuck you!" Richie exclaims back, drunkenly. I chuckle. "Alright, what about you, trashmouth, you married?" Bill asks, gesturing to Richie. I shake my head and laugh. "He's not married." Richie shakes his head. "No, I got married." I shoot him a confused look. "What? I should know about this, I'm your sister." I exclaim. "No, me and your mom are very very happy together." Bill laughs, spitting out his beer all over his face.

Eddie just shakes his head as we all laugh. "Fuck you," He says, waving his hand. "Sometimes she'll put her arm around me, and she'll whisper to me, she'll go," He then proceeds to make weird noises. "Okay, I get it, my mom's a great big fat person! Hilarious! Hysterical!" Eddie exclaims.

Richie then turns to me. "Okay, Y/N, how are you and Cassie doing?" I sigh and put my chopsticks down. "She um, she broke up with me. Just up and left after Mike called me. Though I was cheating on her." Everybody's face drops. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry." I wave my hand. "It's fine. She was turning Luke into a spoiled brat anyway." Bill turns to me. "Who's Luke?" I smile. "He's my son."

I take out my phone and pull up a picture of him, handing it to Bill. "This is him." He looks at the photo and everybody crowds around, him looking at the picture. "He's cute." I nod. "Yeah, he's amazing, too." I take my phone back from Bill and we continue eating, having small conversations amongst ourselves.

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"Wait, let's talk about the elephant not in the room," Richie says, turning to Ben. "Ben. What the fuck man?" Ben takes a sip of his beer before responding. "Okay, okay. I may have lost a few pounds." He states, earning a few'"yeah's' from around the table.

Beverly swirls her finger around the top of the bottle of beer she has, smiling at him. "You're like, uh, you're hot." Richie states, making him smile. Eddie looks at him jealously, and I pat him on the shoulder. It's obvious Richie still likes him. In the time between leaving Derry and now, Richie had a few more boyfriends, but none of them stuck. "You're like every Brazilian soccer player wrapped up into one person." Richie states, smiling as well.

"Stop, you're embarrassing him." Beverly says jokingly. "Okay, okay, please, is Stanley coming or what?" Ben asks, gesturing to the empty chair sitting between Eddie and Richie. All our faces fall and we stop laughing, the atmosphere automatically changing from happy to sad. "Stan." Eddie murmurs, falling back in his chair.

We all look at the chair before looking back between each other. "Stan Uris, Stan Urine, Stanley Urine! No, no he's a fucking pussy he's not gonna show." Richie exclaims. "Why would Stanley save you, anyway? Was I not the one who basically performed surgery on you after Bowers cut you up?" Eddie asks Ben. Ben smiles and responds with a "Yes!" Eddie continues. "Holy shit! That's right."

"Please tell me you ended up becoming a doctor, Eds." Beverly says to Eddie. "No, I ended up becoming a risk analyst." He says, looking at the table. "Oh, that sounds really interesting. What does that entail?" Richie butts in. Eddie shoots him a skeptical glance before explaining. "Yeah, so I work for a big insurance firm and..." He trails off as Richie starts to snore, making all of us except for Eddie, laugh.

"Fuck you, dude. Fuck you." Eddie shoots him a death glare. "Was this job invented before fun?" Richie asks. I roll my eyes. "No, Richie, you just don't know how to be serious, ever." I'm completely ignored, though. "That's so not funny." Ben starts to laugh. "It is funny." Eddie turns to Ben, angry. "What the fuck are you laughing at?" He shouts.

Beverly holds up her beer. "I propose a toast to the Losers." She holds it towards the middle of the table and we all raise our drinks, hitting the glasses against each other.


	3. Chapter 3

We continue making conversation. Richie and Eddie grab each others hands, competing to see who's stronger. "Let's take our shirts off and kiss!" Eddie drunkenly exclaims, making me laugh quietly. I continue to shoot Beverly glances, but she's always talking to someone near her, usually Bill, as Richie is talking to Eddie.

Soon, the waitress brings us the fortune cookies, setting them in the middle of the table. We all thank her and grab one. Across the table Bill and Beverly are talking.

"Like, Rogan-Marsh, half my wife's closet Rogan-Marsh?" Bill asks her. She nods. "That's huge." She smiles and chuckles a little. "That's our line. Me and my husband, Tom." So she's married now. Huh. "How long have you been married?" Bill asks, only to be ignored as Beverly talks. "Hey, we saw your movie, by the way." Ben's now looking at them as well. "You did?" Bill asks. "Oh, my God! It was so good." No, it wasn't. I saw it too. The ending fucking sucked.

"It was so scary." No it wasn't. "And the ending sucked?" Bill asks. She smiles awkwardly at him and chuckles. "Yeah, it did. I'm sorry." He smiles. "That's all right." They stare at each other for a second before Beverly speaks again. "What?" She asks him. "Nothing. It's just weird. Just all this, all these memories, people that I don't even remember forgetting." Bill states. Beverly nods and he continues. "I mean, it's weird, right? Now that we're all here, everything just comes back faster and faster. I mean, all of it." Ben states. True that.

I keep remembering everything. Loving Beverly, dating her, getting my heart broken by her. "Yeah, you know, when Mike called me, I threw up. Isn't that weird? Like, I got nervous. I got like, sick and I threw up." Richie says, laughing a little. Everyone else just looks at him, though. "I feel fine now. I feel very relieved to be here with you guys. Why is everybody looking at me like this?"

"When Mike called me, I crashed my car." Eddie says. "Seriously?" Bill asks. Eddie nods. "Yeah." "Shit, man, I hear you. I mean, my heart was literally pounding right out of my chest." Ben states. "I thought it was only me." Beverly whispers. "It was like pure..." Bill trails off. "Fear. It's fear. What you felt." Mike points out. "Why did we all feel like that, Mike?" Bill asks. Mike looks down at the table. "You remember something we don't, don't you, Mike?"

"Something happens when you leave this town. The farther away, the hazier it all gets. But me, I never left. So, yeah. I remember. I remember all of it." We all sit in silence for a minute. "Pennywise." Beverly states. "Oh, the fucking clown." Eddie murmurs. "Oh, shit."

"Pennywise." Richie says, realization hitting him. "Mike, you said you wanted our help with something. What was that?" Bill asks. "There's an echo here in Derry that bounces back every 27 years." Mike explains. "What are you talking about?" Eddie asks. "Hold on. Listen, listen. We thought we stopped It back then. We thought It was done, but..." He trails off and starts flipping through a book.

"Mike." Richie says, only to be ignored. "A week ago, a man, Adrian Mellon, slaughtered. A girl, Lisa Albrecht, the other night, went missing. There've already been others, and there will be more." Mike explains. "I don't want to hear about this shit." Richie says. I sigh and sit back in my chair, tears pricking my eyes.

"More death. More pain." Mike continues. "Calm down." Ben states. "Let him explain. Let him explain. Explain it to us, Mike." Ben continues. "There's an echo," Mike pauses. "We might have changed It, just like It changed us. But we didn't stop It. Because It just bounced back." He pauses again. "We made and oath. That's why I brought you back. That's why you're here. To finish It. For good."

"Well, that shit got dark fast. Thanks, Mike." We all open our fortune cookies now, reading them. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. Mine just says 'I'. Like the letter I.

I look up to see everybody else is just as confused. "My fortune cookie just says 'could.'" Eddie says, showing it to us. "They don't know how to do fortune cookies here. Mine just says 'guess'." Richie shows us his, too. "You wanna throw that over here?" Bill asks. He stands and we all pass him our papers.

He starts to move them around, arranging them to form a sentence. "Wait, what?" Eddie asks, standing as well. "This is what I'm talking about." Mike states. "'Guess. Not. Could. It.'" Richie says. "It's a message." Mike points out. "No, 'Guess It could not cut.'" Richie sits down again. "Why would it guess it could not cut?" Eddie asks.

"Cut what?" Ben asks. "'Guess it could not cut.'" Richie guesses. "'It' goes in the front. There." Ben says, moving It. "'It could not guess.'" Eddie says. "It couldn't guess." Bill says. "Could it..." Richie trails off. "Then where does the 'I' go?" I ask, standing as well. "No. 'Could it not cut.'" I roll my eyes. "Richie, you're forgetting the 'I'." I point out.

"When it says 'It,' is it talking about It? Is that what it means? Is 'It' It?" Eddie asks. "Where does this go?" Ben asks, moving something. "That's what I'm talking about." Mike says, pointing at the words. "You fuck with the fortune cookies, Mike?" Richie asks. "No." Mike says. "Whoa, let him speak, man." Ben exclaims.

"This is not me. This is what It does." Mike continues. "I need my fucking inhaler!" Eddie exclaims. "What is wrong with you, man? Why'd you call us? This is not fucking funny!" Richie yells. "This is so not funny!" Eddie yells. "Beverly?" Bill asks, turning to her. "This is so not funny." Eddie yells, again. We all turn to Beverly. She places her paper on the table slowly, a tear running down her face. We all look at what the paper says.

Stanley.

We all gasp and I back up a little, ready to leave. Bill moves the papers around so it forms a sentence. A sentence that makes me tear up yet again.

_ I guess Stanley could not cut It. _


	4. Chapter 4

"Why does it say Stanley?" Eddie asks. "Someone else fucking answer me!" He yells. I move back to my seat and sit down, shaking. The fortune cookie bowl in the middle of the table shakes, making us back up. "Holy shit."

A cookie jumps out of the bowl, breaking open. I get up and backup against a wall. "What the fuck is that, man?" Richie asks, pointing to it. A weird bug looking thing with a baby head pops out of it. "Whoa, whoa!" Bill exclaims. It cries weirdly and crawls around. "Whoa!" Bill exclaims again, backing away farther.

Mike finally stands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Bill continues to exclaim. Two more fortune cookies pop out and start to break open. One of them is an eyeball with veins coming out of the back of it. It looks up at Richie. "Hey! Hey!" He yells, backing up. "That fortune cookie's looking at me! Shit!"

Beverly and Ben get up as well, and the other fotune cookie breaks open. "I don't want to be here. I can't fucking do this." Eddie says, panicking. A bat looking thing crawls out of the cookie. "I don't wanna be here! I wann go home!" Eddie continues backing up. "Holy shit!" He backs all the way to the wall, next to me.

The eye thing continues crawling towards Richie, and he backs up into the wall behind him. "Hey! God damn it." The bat starts flying towards where Eddie, Ben, and I are standing and we frantically swat it away. "Hey, Eddie!" Richie yells. Black, steaming goop crawls out of the fortune cookie bowl and across the table.

Mike and Bill turn to look at the aquariums behind them, seeing floating heads. "Whoa! Fuck!" Bill yells, backing up swiftly. "It's not real!" Mike yells, walking towards the table. He grabs a chair and lifts it before hitting it on the table, repeating the words "It's not real!" Over and over.

The waitress walks in. "Is everything alright?" We all turn to her and Mike stops, placing the chair back down. "Uh, yeah. Can we get the check please?" Richie asks awkwardly. She nods and walks out, shooting one last glance back at us. She probably thinks we're insane or something now.

"That's what Pennywise does, right?" Eddie asks. We're walking out now. "He fucks with us. So, Stanley's probably fine." He continues. "Hey, Mike. Do you have Stan's number?" Beverly asks, reaching for her phone. "Yeah." He answers. "Hey, Richie." We all turn around to see a little boy with shaggy, dirty blond hair.

"How'd you uh, how's you know my name?" Richie asks. "The fun's just beginning. Right?" The kid asks, smiling weirdly at us. "Listen. You think this is funny? All right? Think this is some sort of game, huh?" He grabs the kids arm, making me cringe. You shouldn't grab a kid so roughly, honestly, Rich.

"Well, fuck you, all right?" He shakes the kid. "Rich, be careful, dude." Bill says to him. "Fuck you! I'm not afraid of you!" He shouts right in the kids face. The kid pulls his arm out of Richie's grasp. "'The fun is just beginning.' It's a line from your show. I'm a fan!" The kids family walks over. "Are those your parents?" Richie asks. "Yeah."

Richie smiles awkwardly. "You want a picture?" The kid shakes his head and backs up. "I think I'm good." He says walking over to his family. "Okay, cool. He's a good kid." Richie says, standing back up straight. We start to walk again. "Jesus, Richie. You don't even remember a line from your own show." Ben says judgementally. "I don't write my own material." Richie murmurs. "I knew it! I fucking knew it!" Eddie exclaims, making me smile a little.

We get outside and Beverly is finally able to reach Stan. She puts him on speaker, but rather than him, a woman answers. "Hello, Mrs. Uris. My name's Beverly Marsh. I apologize for calling, but I'm an old friend of your husband's." She greets the woman. "You lied to us. That's not okay." Eddie says, backing up. "Yeah, first words out of your mouth should have been like, 'Hey, man. You want to come to Derry and get murdered?' Cuz then I would have said no." Richie says.

"Guys." Ben whispers, getting their attention. "Oh..." The woman on the phone trails off and sighs. "He passed." "When did it happen?" Beverly asks. "Yesterday. It was horrible, the way he died. His wrists. In the bathtub." I don't miss how Beverly also whispered "In the bathtub." At the same time as Mrs. Uris.

"I'm sorry. I have to go." "We're all very sorry, Patty." Beverly says. "Thank you." Patty whispers before hanging up. "Stanley." Eddie starts. Beverly lights a cigarette, and I walk over, asking for one. I hadn't smoked in a while. I had gotten into the habit of it after Pennywise, but stopped when I found out I was pregnant with Luke.

"Pennywise knew. He knew before we did." Eddie points out. "We have to stop him. I have a plan." Mike says, making me shake my head as I light the cigarette. "I got a plan. Getting the fuck out of Dodge before this ends worse than one of Bill's books." Richie says, making me laugh into the cough the cigarette had made me do.

"Who's with me?" He asks, raising his hand. Eddie raises his too, and I do as well. "We made a promise to each other." Mike points out. "Let's un-make the promise." Richie says. "Richie, other people are gonna die." Ben states. "Other people die every day, man! We don't owe this town shit! Plus, I just remembered I grew up here, like, two hours ago. So, I'm fucking leaving. Fuck this." Richie exclaims. I point at him and take one last hit of my cigarette before dropping on the ground and stomping it out.

"I'm sorry, man, I'm with Richie." Eddie says, starting to walk to his car. "Eds, please." Mike pleads. "Listen. What? We stay, we die, that's it? I'm gonna go back to the inn, I'm gonna pack up my shit, and I'm gonna drive to my home. I'm sorry, man. Good luck!" He says, walking to his car.

"No, Eddie. Please. Please, Eddie! Eddie, wait!" Mike pleads. Ben crouches down next to Beverly. "You okay?" He asks her. She stands up. "I'm gonna head back to the Town House, too. Are you coming?" She asks, walking toward her car. "Yeah." Ben says, following her. I start to walk towards my car, before being stopped by Mike.

"Y/N, please." I shake my head. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I can't risk my life. Like Richie said, other people die every day. If I were to die fighting this thing, Luke would have no parents, and I can't live with that. So I'm leaving." I say, getting in the car. He pleads a little more before letting me drive away and back to the inn.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm blessing you with two chapters today because I'm extremely bored also why the hell not, y'know?

I'm up in my room now, grabbing my bag. Luckily I hadn't unpacked anything yet. I throw my duffel bag over my shoulder and run downstairs. Richie runs down soon after. "Whatever you guys are talking about, let's make it happen faster, all right? We gotta go." He says to Ben and Beverly, who were talking. "Eduardo, andele lets go!" He yells up the stairs.

I sigh and lean against the wall near where Richie is standing, dropping my bag on the ground. "You knew how Stanley died, you knew." Ben says, making me suddenly tune into the conversation. Richie seems to have heard it too, because he quickly turns and looks at them. "Wait, what?" He asks. "I can't do this." Beverly whispers, walking away. "She knew how Stanley was gonna die, is that what she just said?" I nod. "Yep." I say, popping the 'P' and following after Ben, who was following Bev.

"You can't just walk away from this," He states. She reaches over and starts frantically ringing the bell on the counter. "How did you know where he killed himself?" She ignores him and goes behind the counter, grabbing some keys out of a cubby. "Talk to me. Just talk to me. Like we used to! C'mon how did you know?" He blocks her so she can't walk away this time. "Because I saw it. I've seen all of us die." She whispers. Richie shoots me a frantic look, and I reciprocate.

Thumping comes from the stairs, making us all turn our heads that way. Eddie is standing there, holding two suitcases. "Okay, I just gotta grab my toiletry bag and then we can go." He says, dropping the suitcases on the landing. "What'd I miss?" He asks, making me chuckle a little. Richie shoots me a glare and I raise my arms in surrender. "What, it's kind of funny." I point out. "Now's not the time, Y/N." I sigh and nod.

"What do you mean you've seen us all die?" Eddie asks. "Yeah, cuz that's a fucked up thing to just drop on somebody." Richie points out. I nod in agreement. Beverly wipes a tear away. "Every night since Derry, I've been having these nightmares." She pauses. "Of people in pain, people dying, people..." She trails off. "So, you have nightmares. I have nightmares. People, they have nightmares. But that doesn't mean that your visions are true." Eddie states.

She shakes her head and takes a shaky breath in. "I've watched every single one of us..." She trails off again. "You've seen every single one of us what?" Bill asks, walking in. "At the place where Stanley wound up. That's how we end." She explains, more tears drifting down her face.

"Okay, how come the rest of us aren't seeing that shit? I mean, what makes her so different?" Richie asks. "The deadlights." Mike explains, making realization hit all of us. "The deadlights." Bill murmurs, stopping his pacing around. "She was the only one of us that got caught in the deadlights that day." Bill explained.

"We were all touched by it. Changed. Deep down. Like and infection. Or a virus." Beverly pulls out a cigarette and lights it. "A virus. You understand. Slowly growing. That virus, it's been growing for 27 years. This whole time, metastasizing. It just got to Stan first because-" Mike is cut off by Richie. "He was the weakest."

"Jesus Christ, Rich." Bill comments. "Just saying what everyone else is thinking, man." I nudge him. "Well, just because we're thinking it doesn't mean you have to say it." I whisper to him. He shrugs and I go back to listening to the conversation. "I mean, Rich, come on." Bill comments again. Mike continues, disregarding the side conversation. "What Beverly sees, it will come to pass. It's what'll happen to all of us, eventually. Unless we stop it."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Eddie asks. "The Ritual of Chud." I turn to look at Mike. "Excuse me, the ritual of what?" He looks back at me. "The Ritual of Chud! The Shokopiwah. The first ones who fought IT, they have a saying. 'All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit.'" Mike explains. "A tribal ritual? Are you fucking kidding me, man? All right, there's gotta be another way. Okay? This thing comes back, what, every 27 years? Let's just kick the bucket down the road and do it then." Richie states.

"Wait, we'll be 70 years old, asshole." Eddie points out. "It doesn't work that way. None of us make it another 20 years, and the way it happens..." Beverly trails off. "Honestly, I don't care if I'm going to die, as long as I can actually raise my child. Once I'm done with that, I don't care what happens to me. At least if I don't fight this thing I know I can do that." I butt in. Beverly turns to me, shaking her head. "You're not even going to last long enough to do that, Y/N." I sigh and lean against the wall behind me, giving up. I guess I'm fighting this clown whether I want to or not.

"So, if we don't beat It this cycle, then..." Ben trails off. "We die." Bill states. "Horribly." Eddie adds. "Yeah, I don't need the 'horribly' part." Richie states, staring awkwardly at Eddie. "I didn't say it. She said it. Not me." Eddie states, turning to look at Richie. "Actually, you kind of did, Eds." I point out. He turns to me. "Butt out, Y/N!" He snaps at me, making me raise my hands in surrender. Damn, it's like he's on his man period or something.

"All right, guys. Look. I've seen w-w-w-what he's talking about, and it's all true. It's the only way. If we want this ritual to work-" Bill's explaining is cut off by Mike. "We have to remember." He states. "Remember what?" Richie asks. "It's better if I show you. We don't have much time. This cycle will end soon. And one it does..." Mike trails off. "We're fucked." Eddie states.

Mike leads us outside and through town to who knows where. We follow him, no questions asked. Soon, we stop somewhere in the woods. "The Barrens." Bev states. "This is where we came. After the rock fight." Ben says, chuckling slightly. The memory makes me smile. "The clubhouse." Richie points out. "You built that for us." Beverly exclaims, pointing at Ben and smiling widely. "Yeah, the hatch has got to be around here someplace." Richie states, pointing at the ground.

"You did. I do remember that!" Eddie exclaims happily. The memory of the clubhouse happiness replace the solemn mood we were in just moments before. Beverly trips over a branch and I go to catch her, but Bill beats me to it. Of course, they still love each other after all this time. I slink away, over to Ben, where he's looking at them forlornly as well. I pat him on the shoulder and smile sadly at him, and he reciprocates.

"I guess we'll just be lonely together, huh?" I ask him. He looks at me and laughs a little. "I guess so." I laugh a little too. "Y'know, even after all this time, you're still my best friend. You always helped me out when I was feeling sad about Bev." I nod. "You're my best friend too. I mean, you're the only person here who knows how it feels. Just don't tell Richie." I state, making him chuckle. We walk over to where the others are.

"You know what? I actually think the door was more like, around..." He falls through a hole in the ground. I guess we found it. "Found it." He yells to us before following up with "I'm okay! Come down!" We make our way over to the hole and climb down one by one. The memories instantly flood back into my brain.


	6. Chapter 6

_ Richie climbs down soon after me, pushing his glasses up on his face. "What the dick is this? How'd you build it?" He asks, walking around. "When did you build it?" Bill asks. "Here and there, I guess." Ben answers. "It was already dug out for something, so I just had to reinforce the walls and get some wood for the roof door, and that's pretty much it." Ben explains as we walk around, exploring the tiny space. "Pretty good for my first time, huh?" He asks, leaning on a pillar. _

_ The pillar shifts when he does that, making a part of the roof fall behind Stan. A loud thump echoes through the clubhouse and we all turn to look at the area. "Now, that's a cool feature. What happens when you put your hand on the other pillar, professor?" Richie comments smartly. I smack him upside the head, making him yelp in pain. "Okay, this is exactly why there are safety codes, why we have permits. This place is a death trap. You understand that?" Eddie rants. _

_ "Well, it's a work in progress. Okay, Eddie?" Ben states, making Eddie start to rant again. "Just so you know, I get hurt, you are liable. And, also, what is this? The switch of an iron maiden?" He asks, nudging a dusty flashlight hanging from the ceiling. "That's a flashlight." Ben explains. "What is that, a horse hitch?" Eddie asks, pointing to something. "When do you have horses down here?" He gets distracted by something on the ground. "Oh, this is cool." He states, picking it up. A paddle ball. This is not going to be good. _

_ "That was like three dollars so be careful with that, please." Ben asks. Eddie disregards him and starts hitting the ball with the paddle. He turns to Stan as he does it, hitting it right in his face. "I have one of these. Hey, Stan, you see this?" "Yeah, okay, can you maybe not?" Stan asks, backing away from the paddle ball. "Maybe not what? Yeah, yeah, hold on. Maybe not what? Be awesome and have fun and celebrate the magic of the paddle ball?" It flies out of his hand and hits Stan before landing on the floor. _

_ "Wow." Eddie exclaims. "Oh, good going, fucknut. You broke his thing." Eddie says, watching as the ball rolls away into the dirt. Stan turns back to him. "I broke it?" He asks, disbelievingly. "Yeah, you broke it with your face." Eddie explains sassily. "What?" Stan whispers, looking back at the ball. "I'm not putting my fucking hand down there." Eddie states. _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie reaches down and picks up the ball, blowing the dirt off of it. "Oh, man. That's so cool." Eddie states. We all walk around the clubhouse, looking at all our old memories. "Oh, my God." Bill says. "How do we all not remember this was here?" Eddie asks. "Hey, Losers." A voice, sounding a lot like Pennywise, comes out of the darkness. We all turn that way, Mike holding a bat as a weapon. "Time to float." It continues. Ben backs up and falls over from tripping on something.

Richie comes out of the darkness, laughing. I walk over and smack him in the back of the head. "Ow." He murmurs, rubbing the back of his head. "That's what you get, asshole." I point out and walk back over to the others. "Fuck, Richie!" Bill exclaims. "Dude!" Eddie exclaims. "Remember when he used to say that shit? And he'd do that little dance." He imitates the dance, making music to go along with it. I roll my eyes. "Do you want to be smacked again?" I ask, making him stop.

"Am I the only one who remembers this shit?" Richie asks. "Are you gonna be like this the entire time we're home?" Eddie asks, annoyed. "Just trying to add some levity to this shit, I guess I'll go fuck myself." Richie murmurs, walking away. "It smells so fucking terrible in here."

Bill walks over to a shelf, picking up a canister. "Hey, you guys?" Bill turns around. "This says 'S-Stan." He says, showing it to us. "'For the use of L-L-Losers only.'" He reads. "Bill." Eddie says. Bill opens it and pulls out a shower cap.

*Flashback again*

_ Stan pulls out a shower cap, offering it to Richie. We're all wearing one, except for him. Richie looks up from his comic, snatching it out of Stan's hand. "What the fuck is this?" He asks, looking at Stan expectantly. "So you don't get spiders in your hair when you're down here." Stan explains, a hint of a smile on his face. Richie rolls his eyes. "Stanley, we're not afraid of fucking spiders." He says throwing it on the ground. _

_ Stan moves out of Richie's view, and he can now see all of us wearing our shower caps. "I stand corrected." He states, looking at us. Beverly smirks, lighting a cigarette. "That's a first." She points out. Eddie pulls the showers cap off of his head. "Touché." Richie jokes, looking back at his comic. _

_ Eddie walks over to the hammock where Richie is. "Hey, Rich, your ten minutes are up." He states. "What are you talking about?" Richie asks, looking up from his comic book. "The hammock. Ten minutes each was the rule." Eddie states, annoyance in his voice. Richie looks around. "I don't see any sign." He points out. What a smartass. "Are you being this way right now? Really? No, no, no. Why would there be a sign if it was a verbal agreement? And I remember you agreeing on the fucking rule!" Eddie exclaims, the annoyance growing. _

_ He jumps into the hammock with Richie, and now they're both flailing around in the fucking hammock like idiots. "I can see your vagina!" Richie yells, moving his comic book away from Eddie's feet. "Ten minutes each!" Stan rolls his eyes and turns away from the two. "Go back in your dumb little corner!" I sigh and resist the temptation to walk over and flip the hammock over to dump them out so I can get the hammock. _

_ "I wanna go in this hammock!" "I fucked your mom!" I walk over to where Ben and Beverly are. "No, you didn't. Take that back dickface!" Ben's working on the part of the ceiling that fell still, so it doesn't fall again. "You're awfully good at this, new kid." Beverly points out. "You really think so?" Ben asks. "Your ass has been there for 23 minutes!" Eddie yells at Richie. "There's actually a summer program in bar harbor. Teaches you, like, everything about architecture. I was thinking about applying." Ben explains. _

_ "I'll do that." Richie pipes up, making us all turn to him. "I'll do anything to get the hell out of Derry." He pushes Eddie's foot out of his face. "Man, when I graduate, I'm going to Florida." Mike states, swinging a little in the swing he's seated in. "What's in Florida, Mike?" Ben asks. "I don't know. You know, I guess it's just a place I always wanted to go." Mike explains, shrugging. "Stan, you should go with Mike to Florida. You already act 80. You'd clean up with all the grandmas." Richie jokes, making kissing noises, making us laugh. _

_ "Do you guys think we'll still be friends? When we're older?" Stan asks. "What?" Richie asks, laughing a little. "Why wouldn't we be?" Bill sits down next to Stan. "Do any of your parents still hang out with their friends from middle school?" Stan points out. Eddie pushes Richie's glasses off his face, kicking him afterwards. Okay, that's it. I've had enough. _

_ While the others continue their conversation, I walk over and flip the hammock, making both Richie and Eddie roll onto the floor. "What the fuck Y/N?!" Richie exclaims, getting up. I laugh and climb onto the hammock. "Why'd you do that?" I shrug. "Just wanted to, I guess." Richie rolls his eyes and we zone back into the conversation the others are having. "We'll always still be friends. I don't think that just, you know, g-goes away because we get older." Bill states, reassuring Stan. "Yeah, Stan. Come on. You don't have to be so..." _

*Flashback over*

"Sad."


	7. Chapter 7

"Sad." Beverly whispered, the memory ending just as soon as it had started. The happy atmosphere from before was gone now, quickly replaced with a sad one. Bill had one of the shower caps on his knee, and he was rubbing it forlornly. "He was old before his time." Ben says. "Yeah. I wonder what he was like all grown up." Eddie states. "Probably what he was like as a kid. The best." Richie states sadly.

"Here." Bill takes the shower cap and throws it at Richie, who catches it. "All right, Mike. What are we doing here?" Richie asks. "The ritual. To perform it requires a sacrifice." Mike explains. "Sacrifice? I nominate Eddie." Richie jokes, shifting the shower cap from hand to hand. "Wait, what?" Eddie asks, turning to Richie. "Y'know you're little. You'll fit on a barbeque." Richie gestures with his hands.

"I'm 5'9". It's like, average height in most of the world." Eddie responds, walking away from Richie. "It's not that kind of sacrifice, guys." Bill states. "Mike?" "The past is buried. But you're gonna have to dig it up. Piece by piece. And these pieces, these artifacts, that's why we're here. They are what you'll sacrifice. And since Stan isn't here to find his... I figured we should all be here together to find his artifact." Mike explains. Eddie places a shower cap on his head. "I think Bill just did that." He states.

We all leave the clubhouse, deeming Eddie the most responsible out of us all, meaning he's keeping Stan's artifact. "Okay, Mike, so where do we find out tokens?" Eddie asks. "Yeah, I gotta be honest, man. All due respect. This is fucking stupid, all right? Why do we need tokens? All right? We already remember everything. Saving Bev, defeating IT... I mean, we're caught up!" Richie exclaims.

"It's not everything. We fought. But what happened after that? Before the house on Neibolt. Think." Mike points out calmly. "We c-c-can't remember, can we?" Bill asks, looking around. "See, there's more to our story. What happened that summer. And those blank spaces, like pages torn out of a book. That's what you need to find. We need to split up. You each need to find your artifact. Alone. That's important. When you do, meet me at the library tonight." Mike states.

"Yeah, I gotta say, statistically speaking, you look at survival scenarios, we're gonna do much better as a group." Eddie explains. "Yeah, splitting up would be dumb, man. Okay, we gotta go together. All right? We were together that summer, right?" Richie agrees. "No. Not that w-w-w-whole summer." Bill states.

*Flashback time again*

_ "Take it back." Bill exclaims, punching Richie. "Bill!" Beverly yells as Richie falls to the ground. Stan, Mike, and I drag him back up until he's standing. "You're just a bunch of losers." Bill lunges for Richie again, and Ben and Beverly grab him. Richie pushes us away, no longer attempting to fight Bill. "We were all together when we hurt IT. That's why we're still alive." Beverly points out. "Yeah? Well I plan to keep it that way." Richie states, walking away. _

_ I walk over to Bev. "Don't worry, Richie'll get over it. I'm not mad at you." She smiles at me. "Y/N come on!" Richie yells at me over his shoulder. "See you later!" I call to her as I run to Richie's bike and get on. _

*Flashback over*

"Okay, let's do this I guess." I sighed as we all split up, going our separate ways as soon as we exited the woods.

I walk down the road slowly, watching my feet as I did. I kick pebbles out of my way as I walk, soon stopping in front of a house. Not just any house, mine and Richie's old house.

It was old, and it didn't look like anybody still lived there. I walked up to the door slowly, pausing before pushing it open. It creaked loudly as I did so, making me cringe a little. A musty smell wafts out, hitting my in the face and making me scrunch up my nose. It's almost as if nobody has ever lived here.

I take a step in, the floorboards creaking under my weight. As I look around the house, I see a lot of our old belongings are still here. The couch, the old TV, even the pictures on the wall. The TV was smashed in, and there was glass all over the floors. A lot of the pictures were on the floor, broken. I pick up one. It's a picture of Richie and I, from when we were kids. He had his arm around my shoulders and I was giving him bunny ears. We both were sticking our tongues out. We were around 7 in the picture. The memory made me smile. That was before our parents started neglecting us.

I take the old picture out of the frame and fold it carefully, sticking it in my pocket. I continues through the house and up the stairs until I reach out old room. The desk is still in the place it was before, and so were our beds. They were moldy and disgusting, but other than that they hadn't really changed that much.

I walk over to my bed, lifting the mattress. Underneath it was a necklace and a note. They were both from Beverly. The day she left, she left them in our mailbox, addressing them to me. I pick them up and place stare at them, the memory of that day replaying in my mind.

*Flashback again bois*

_ "Y/N, get your ass down here now!" I sigh and put down the book I was reading. I walk downstairs to the kitchen, where both of my parents and Richie are standing. Richie has a guilty look on his face. "What the hell is this?!" My mother yells at me, throwing a box and a piece of paper at me. I pick it up and open the box, seeing a necklace with a rose on it, before closing it. Next I open the note, reading it. _

**_Dear Y/N,_ **

**_I'm so sorry I kissed Bill. I never liked him. I always liked you. I was just scared. We live in the 80s. It's not safe for same sex couples to be together right now. Maybe in the future, but not now. I couldn't let you get too attached, so I had to make you think I didn't like you. But I did. I didn't just like you, I loved you. Now that I'm gone, you'll find another girl. Or we might meet again. Either way, I just want you to be happy. Please forgive me. I love you._ **

**_Love, Beverly_ **

_ Tears stung my eyes, but I rubbed at them harshly to get rid of them. "So, you're a little fucking dyke now? A fag?" My mother emphasized the word fag. "We don't tolerate fags in this house, Y/N." She walks over to me calmly. "So get the fuck out of here. You understand?" I tear up once again. "Mom please, I have nowhere else to go-" She slaps me harshly across the face, cutting me off. "Don't fucking talk back to me! Get the fuck out! Go pack your bags and leave!" Richie walks over. _

_ "Mom, please." She looks at him, and her face softens a bit. She always favored him over me for some reason. "Please." She sighs and nods. "Fine. But as soon as she's 18, the fag leaves, understand?" We both nod and run up to our room. _

_ When we get there I hide the necklace and note under my mattress quickly, so neither of my parents will find it. I finally let the tears run down my face, making my eyes swell up and turn red. The salty tears sting the hand shaped mark on my cheek where mom slapped me. Richie walks over and crouches next to me. "It's gonna be okay." He reassures me, hugging me tightly. _

_ "I promise." _


	8. Chapter 8

Tears stream down my cheeks as the memory fades. I sigh and quickly wipe them away, wiping my wet hand on my shirt. I turn around and go to leave, but the door is locked. "Y/N." I turn around slowly, not knowing what to expect. And there he is. My father. That same day, as soon as he had gotten home from work, I had gotten the beating of a fucking lifetime. That was the first time I had ever broken a bone.

"Fucking dyke." He yells at me, taking a step closer. "You're so fucking disgusting. Girls shouldn't like other girls. I guess I'll just have to teach you a lesson." He lunges at me, pinning me down on the floor. He attempts to hit me a few times, but I manage to dodge.

He aims a few more punches at me, hitting me in the face a few times. I'm finally able to push him off. He lands on the ground with an "Oof." I sigh and stand up, straightening my shirt and dusting myself off.

I quickly open the door, running out and through the town before I'm finally back at the inn. I enter and see Bev and Bill basically making out. Oh, my God. And I thought she was being serious. They both look up at me upon entering. "Oh, my God! Y/N what happened?" Beverly asks, walking over to me.

She grabs my face gently, inspecting it. I rip it from her grasp. "Nothing, nothing. I'm fine. Look, that note you gave me the day you moved away? I found it. I was never mad at you, it just hurt. And I thought you were being serious about it, guess not." She has a solemn look on her face. "Y/N, I'm sorry. I really am." I turn to her, making her stop. "If you were so sorry, you wouldn't continuously make out with Bill! Make up your mind, and as soon as you do, let me know who you choose. I'm done with these games." I rant, and her eyes glisten with tears. "Now I'm gonna go get cleaned up before we meet Mike at the library." She nods and I walk past and upstairs to my room.

I shut the bathroom door behind me. Looking in the mirror, I walk over to the sink. The closer I get to the mirror, the clearer the damage gets. I have a bloody nose, luckily it's not broken though, a busted lip and there's a bruise right on my cheekbone. Tears stream down my face for the second time that day. I turn on the sink and wet one of the inn's washcloths, wiping the blood off my face. Once I'm done with that, I bandage up my lip. I wipe away my tears, making sure it's not noticeable that I was crying.

I turn off the sink and throw the wrapper to the band aid away. Once I'm done with that, I decide to change my clothes quickly because I've been wearing the same clothes since yesterday. I pick out a black tank top with a The Rolling Stones hoodie over it, and a pair of jeans. **(Yes, I know you're 40 years old, doesn't mean you can't dress young! Not every 40 year old has to dress like they're 80 y'know!)**

Once I'm changed I throw my shoes back on. As soon as I'm done tying my shoes, Eddie yells from the next room over. "Guys!" I stand and quickly leave my room. Eddie's standing in the hallway, blood pouring down his face. "Jesus Christ, Eddie, what the fuck happened?" I ask, running over to him. Beverly and Ben soon join us. "Bowers is in my room." Eddie calmly states, trying to wipe the blood away.

Ben runs into his room but stay out in the hall with Eddie and Beverly. "Is it bad?" Eddie asks, looking at us. "No," Beverly lies, trying to fix it.

*Richie's POV* **(Sorry, I just really liked Stan's speech so quick POV change for that.)**

"Fuck them," I state, driving away from that fucking inn. "I got dates in fucking Reno, man." I continue, trying to convince myself that's true. I soon see a building. Not just any building, the temple where Stan's Bar Mitzvah was. I park and walk inside, sitting in the same place I sat during his Bar Mitzvah. The memory of it soon hits me.

*Flashback time*

_ "Reflecting on the meaning of what I just read, the word 'Leshanot' comes up a lot, which means 'to change, to transform.' Which makes sense, I guess, because today I'm supposed to become a man. It's funny, though. Everyone, I think, has some memories they're prouder of than others, right? And maybe that's why change is so scary. 'Cause the things we wish we could leave behind... the whispers we wish we could silence... the nightmares we most want to wake up from... the memories we wish we could change... the secrets we feel like we have to keep are the hardest to walk away from. The good stuff? The pictures in our mind that fade away the fastest? Those pieces of you it feels the easiest to lose. Maybe I don't want to forget. Maybe if that's what today is all about, forget it, right?" _

_ "Thank you, Stanley." Stan quickly dodges away from the man, keeping the microphone. "Today, I'm supposed to become a man, but I don't feel any different." He turns around, the microphone cord reaching it's maximum length. "I know I'm a loser. And no matter what, I always fucking will be." He states, dropping the microphone and walking out. Y/N and I stand and start to clap, only to be quickly dragged back down by our mother. _

*Flashback over*

"Thanks for showing up, Stanley." I murmur into the empty building.

*Your POV*

"Mike?" Beverly exclaims, running in. "Hey." Ben and Bev exclaim in unison. "Oh, my God." Beverly whispers before catching sight of the dead body laying slightly on top of Mike. She screams. She places her hands over her mouth, breathing heavily into them. "You all right?" Ben asks. "No I'm not all right I just fucking killed a guy!" Richie exclaims. I walk over to him, patting his shoulder. "He was talking to Mike."

Mike looks up from his elbow, examining us. "Where's Bill?" He asks. We all shrug. He sighs and takes out his phone, dialing Bill's number. "Here, let's fix that." Ben says, gesturing to Mike's arm. He nods and they walk over to a table, sitting down.

Ben finishes wrapping Mike's arm as he finally gets ahold of Bill. "Bill, we're at the library. Where are you at?" Mike asks into the phone. He gets up abruptly, walking away from where all of us are. "No, no, no, no, no. Just, just... Look, just come here to the library. We can talk about the plan." He pauses for a second as Bill responds.

"No, no, no." He frantically says into the phone. "Bill! Bill!" He exclaims, panicking. He pulls the phone away from his ear as Bill hangs up. "He's going to fight IT alone." He states, putting his phone away. "What?" Richie whispers. "Alone." Mike repeats, louder this time. He grabs the ritual thingy, placing it on a table. "It's about the group. The ritual doesn't work without the group! Doing it together is why it'd work." Mike explains.

Richie examines the ritual thingy intently as Mike explains. When he notices this, he snatches it out of Richie's arms quickly, making confusion flood through us. "Mike, did he tell you where he was going?" Ben asks calmly. "If he really wanted to kill Pennywise, there's only one place he'll go." Beverly pointed out. "The same place the ritual needs to be performed." Mike states. "Oh, we're not gonna like this, are we?" Eddie asks.

"Fuck."


	9. Chapter 9

We all run into the lawn of the Neibolt house. Bill is standing on the porch, staring at the door. When he hears us approaching he turns around quickly. "No, no, you guys, no!" He exclaims. "I s-s-started all this." He points out. "It's my fault that you're all here. This curse, this fucking thing that's inside you all. It started growing the day that I made you go down to the Barrens because all I cared about was finding Georgie. Now, I'm gonna go in there, and I don't know what's gonna happen, but I can't ask you to do this."

Beverly walks forward and grabs a spike from the ground. "Well, we're not asking you, either." She states. Bill walks down a step. "Bev..." "We didn't do it alone then, Bill, so we're not gonna do it alone now." Mike states. "Losers stick together." Ben says. We all stand there silently for a moment.

"So, does somebody want to say something?" Eddie asks, breaking the silence. "Richie said it b-b-b-b-best when we were here last." Bill states, looking at Richie. "I did?" Richie asks. "'I don't want to die'?" He questions. "Not that." God, Bill, then what? "'You're lucky we're not measuring dicks'?" He guesses again. "No." Bill states. Richie thinks for a minute. "'Let's kill this fucking clown'?" Bill nods. "Yeah."

"Let's kill this fucking clown." Richie states, a determined look on his face. We walk in slowly, flashlights in hand. Black, steaming liquid flows down the stairs. "I love what he's done with the place." Richie jokes, shining his flashlight on the nastiness. "Beep beep, Richie." Beverly murmurs.

I pat Richie on the back, signalling him that he did nothing wrong. Even though he prefers 'Beep beep' to shut up, and it's not as harsh, when he's 'Beep beep'ed he still feels like he's done something wrong.

Bill walks down a hallway, Eddie and Richie following closely behind. I stay close to Beverly. Ben groans behind us and we turn around. "Ben?!" Beverly exclaims, running to him. The door that the others just went through shuts, locking them in.

I run over to Ben as well. "Ben, what's wrong?" Beverly asks. He's clutching his stomach, and blood is seeping through his shirt. He lifts his shirt, slowly sinking to the ground. Mike, Bev and I hold him so he doesn't just plummet to the ground.

Letters are being carved into his stomach. There's nothing around that could be causing it, though. The letters finally start to spell out something. Home at last.

Beverly looks at the mirror in front of us. I look as well to see Pennywise hovering over Ben, carving the letters into his stomach. He moves the knife to Ben's neck, starting to slice across it. Beverly picks up the spike she got from the yard and runs over, smashing the mirror.

The carving stops, and the letters disappear. Once Ben has recovered, we get up and run down the hallway the others went down. Richie starts yelling, making us scream for him. He continues screaming, and the door finally opens.

We run in, Ben grabbing a knife on the floor and stabbing it into the weird head spider thingy latched onto Richie's head. He stabs it a few more times, throwing it across the room. It crawls away before rolling down the stairs to the basement.

"Is everybody okay?" Beverly asks, taking off her jacket. Richie is coughing and still laying on the floor. Bill walks over to Eddie. "He could have f-f-fucking died, man. You k-know that, right?" He asks, pushing Eddie against the wall. "Bill, be careful." I state. "I can't see." Richie gasps out.

"Georgie's dead. The kid's dead. Stanley's dead. You want Richie, too? You want Richie, too?" Bill starts to yell. "I don't want Richie, too. I don't. I don't." Eddie's voice wavers. "Please don't be mad, Bill. I was just scared." Eddie continues. "That's what he wants, right? Don't give it to him." Eddie nods.

We grab our flashlights again and make our way down the stairs to the basement. "A lot of memories, huh?" Ben asks, looking at the well. "All bad." He states, walking over to it. We get down the well and into the sewer, the disgusting water filling our shoes. "Aw, man."

"Blech. Gray water." We walk through the tunnels slowly, shining our flashlights in every direction. We finally reach it. There's a lot more water than before. Now it reaches halfway up our torsos. Guess my hoodie's going in the trash. I really liked this hoodie, too. A piece of trash or something floats towards Eddie, and he dodges it, panicking and repeating "No." Over and over.

We climb on top of the trash pile thing. "Bev, what is it?" Ben asks, looking at Beverly who's turned around. She turns back to face us. "I thought I heard somethi-" She's cut off by something popping out of the water in front of her. She screams and it grabs her, dragging her under.

Bill jumps back into the water to save her, Mike following shortly after. "Y/N, stay here." Richie breathes out, jumping into the water. Eddie stays behind. "Guys," His voice echoes throughout the sewers. "Okay, guys. Come on." He looks around the water frantically for them. "Hey, guys. Guys, come one." His voice starts to crack. "Please, come on. I don't want to walk out of here alone." I smack him on the shoulder and he turns to me. "Um, hello, I still exist!"

They all come out of the water, gasping for air. "Mike. Where do we go from here?" Richie asks. They all climb back onto the little platform thing that Eddie and I are standing on. We gather in a circle around a hatch thing.

"In the depths is where IT crept." Mike murmurs, looking at the hatch. "In the beneath, to find the belief. In the depths is where IT crept. In the beneath, to find the belief." He repeats. "Is he okay?" Ben asks, to nobody in particular. "I think at this point, that's a relative question." Richie answers. "What's on the other side?" Beverly asks, drawing Mike's attention. "I don't know. No one does." Mike answers, before reaching down and opening the hatch.

We all back away quickly, almost falling into the water again. Mike shines his flashlight down. His sits on the edge, dangling his feet. "Mike, don't." Bill warns. "All right." Mike breathes out. "See you down there." He states, before dropping down the hole. "Mike!" We all exclaim.

We all look down to see Mike, holding onto a rock. "S-stay together." Bill states, before dropping down as well. "Guys I can't do it. I can't. You saw what happened up there. I was gonna let you die. I just fucking froze up. If you let me go down there with you, I'm gonna get us all killed." Eddie states, taking out his aspirater and taking a puff of whatever the fuck is in there.

Richie grabs his hand abruptly. "Hey, hey, hey. Give me that. Give me that." Eddie continues to spray it, trying to breath it in from the air. "Richie." Richie continues tugging on Eddie's arm. "Let go, you little turd." They continue to fight over it for a few minutes as Ben, Bev, and I watch awkwardly.

"Listen to me. You had a moment. Fine. But who killed a psychotic clown before he was 14?" He didn't kill it, hence why we're here, but okay. "Me." Eddie responds. "Who stabbed Bowers with a knife he pulled out of his own face?" "Also me." "Who married a woman 10 times his own body mass?" Eddie pauses for a moment before answering. "Me." Richie nods. "Yeah. You're braver than you think." Eddie nods. "Alright. Thanks Rich." Richie pats Eddie on the cheek, making him wince. "Ow." "Sorry." Richie apologizes.

They walk back over to the hatch. "Here. Take it." Beverly offers him the spike. "It kills monsters." He takes it. "Does it?" He asks. "Yeah. If you believe it does." Beverly reassures, before climbing into the hatch. "Thanks, Bev." We all climb down the hatch and prepare ourselves for the final fight.


	10. Chapter 10

I'm the last one to climb down. When I do everybody is there, waiting for me. We walk through a tunnel of rocks, having to squeeze through a tiny hole at the end. When we emerge from the hole, my eyes widen as I see the giant pointy rock thingys that are in the shape of a circle.

"This is where IT hid." Mike says, looking at the rock things as well. "So all this has been here forever?" Eddie asks. Mike shakes his head. "Not forever. Just a few million years." Mike responds. I shake my head and roll my eyes, chuckling. "Yeah, a few million years isn't a lot, okay." I joke, looking at Mike. Nobody responds so I just sigh. People really don't know how to take a joke.

We walk throu a gap in the rock formation into the circle the rocks surround. Mike takes out the ritual thing, placing it on the ground. "IT can only be attacked in IT's true form. The ritual will show us that." Mike states, noticing our confused faces. "And what is IT's true form?" Ben asks.

"I hope it's a puppy. Like a pomeranian or..." Richie trails off as he notices the looks being sent his way. "I'll shut up." I nod, patting him on the shoulder. "That would be for the best." He just looks at me. "It's light." Mike states, staring at the ritual thingy. "A light that must be snuffed out by darkness."

He grabs a thing of gasoline out of his bag, squirting it into the ritual thingy. He then lights a match and throws it in as well. "Your artifacts." He states, standing from his crouching position. "Place them in the fire." And suddenly I regret choosing the necklace as the artifact. "The past must burn with the present." I sigh, taking the necklace out of my pocket and grasping it in my fist tightly.

"This is the boat that I built with G-Georgie." Bill states, dropping the boat in the fire. "It's my inhaler." Eddie takes a hit of the inhaler before throwing it in the fire, making Richie grimace. "Come on, dude."

"Something that I wish I had held on to." Bev states, holding a torn postcard in her hands. She places it in the fire gently. "This is a page from my yearbook. That only one person signed. I probably should have forgotten it, but I couldn't because I kept it in my wallet. For 27 years." Ben says, folding it and then placing it in the fire.

I go next, holding the necklace up. "This is a 'I'm sorry' gift. From the first person I ever loved." I swallow thickly. "And the only person." I whisper, placing the necklace in the fire gently and hearing it clink with the plastic of Eddie's inhaler. Tears sting my eyes as I do and Bev sends me an 'I'm sorry' look, but I don't read into it. I'm done with her games.

Richie goes next, holding up a token. "This is a token from the Capitol Theater." He throws it into the fire. "You brought an actual token?" Eddie asks, making me roll my eyes. Here we go again. "Yeah, man. That's what we were supposed to do, asshole." Richie responds tiredly. "Do you have any idea how long that's gonna take to burn?" Eddie asks, making me roll my eyes and sigh. I shoot a tired look at Ben who reciprocates the look while also sending me a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, well so is your inhaler, dude. All the fumes and plastic and shit." Richie points out, making Eddie shut up. Mike is the last to go. He holds up a rock with blood on it. "Look closely, Bev." She steps forward, looking at it. "You see it?" She nods. "That's where you hit Bowers." She laughs a little. "The rock fight."

"The day these bonds were forged." Eddie leans over, tapping Mike on the shoulder. "That's not gonna burn, either." He whispers, making me roll my eyes yet again. "Eddie, that's besides the point." I state, making him turn to me. "I'm just stating facts, Y/N! Just simply stating facts." I raise my hands in surrender. "Look, I'm not fighting about this, okay? It's petty and stupid."

"Are you guys done?" Richie asks. "You're one to talk, Richard." Mike throws the rock into the fire, losing his patience. "Oh, wait." Eddie states, taking something out of his pocket. A shower cap. "Couldn't forget about Stan, again." He states, throwing the shower cap in the fire. "Okay. Grab hands." Mike states, and everybody grabs hands.

"The Ritual of Chud. It's a battle of wills. The first step was our reunion. The second was the gathering of tokens. This is the final step." The fire goes out suddenly, making us all look at it except Mike.

"What the..." Richie murmurs. Mike looks up as there's a loud cracking noise above us, making us all do the same. There's a light, a very bright one, moving down toward us. "Fuck is that?" Bill asks, kind of finishing Richie's question.

"Don't look at them!" Mike exclaims, looking away. "Are those the deadlights?" Richie asks, gripping my hand tighter. "Don't look at them!" Mike commands again, and this time we all listen. "Turn light into dark. Turn light into dark. Say it!" Mike yells, making me flinch a little. "Say what?" Eddie asks. "Say it!" Mike yells again. We all start to chant the words "Turn light into dark." Over and over.

Mike starts to chant something in some foreign language. "Turn light into dark! Mike what's happening, man?" Richie asks. "Keep chanting!" Mike exclaims, continuing to chant. The lights soon disappear into the ritual thingy and Mike lunges forward, placing the lid on it. Eddie continues chanting. "Is it working? Did we do it?" Eddie asks, opening his eyes.

Mike continues to hold down the lid as something starts to grow out of the ritual thingy. It's red, and it squeaks as it rubs against the edges of the ritual thingy. Kind of like a balloon. "What is this? Is this a part of it?" Beverly asks, backing up a little. "Mike, is this supposed to be happening?" Richie asks.

"Keep chanting!" Mike exclaims as the balloon continues to grow. He struggles to hold the lid on as we all start chanting again. He looses hold on it as the balloon grows too big and we all back up quickly, disconnecting hands.

It contnues to grow and we backup until we're no longer in the circle thingy. We all run away from it quickly as it grows, the rocks leaving indentions in it. I'm afraid it's going to pop at any second.

It pops, making my fears come true.


	11. Chapter 11

The balloon pops, making us all fall over from the force. My ears rings as I open my eyes and looking around. I stand up quickly, making my head hurt put the pain quickly subsides. Ben comes running over to me. "You okay?" I nod, sending him a thumbs up.

"Where's Mike?" Eddie asks, leading me to look around. I don't see him, it's too dark in here. We all start to call for him. "I'm here!" He responds and we all run over to him, making sure he's okay. "Did we do it? Did we do it? Yeah? Did we do it?" Eddie asks, frantically shining his flashlight around. "We put the tokens in the thing. That's good, right?" Beverly beats her flashlight, getting it to shine again.

"We did it, right?" Eddie asks, still waving his flashlight around. Beverly shines her flashlight up onto one of the rocks, illuminating the smiling face of Pennywise. We all back up quickly. "Oh, did it work, Mikey? Did it work?" Pennywise taunts, laughing. "Tell them why your silly little ritual didn't work." He continues, still using that same taunting voice.

"Tell them it's all just a... What's the word, Eds? Gazebo?" He taunts, moving a little so that we can only see half of his face now. "Mike, what's he talking about?" Eddie asks, staring intensely at Pennywise. "M-M-Mikey?" Bill asks, stepping forward towards Mike.

"Oh, Mikey, you never showed them the fourth side, did you?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and turn towards Mike. Fourth side? What the hell? Did Mike lie to us?

"Didn't want them to know what actually happened to the poor Shokopiwah?" Pennywise taunts, laughing. "Fuck Mikey. You lied to us, again?" Bill exclaims, turning to him. So all that was for nothing? I burned the necklace for nothing? A least I still have the letter, I guess. "No, but they didn't believe! They didn't believe they could kill IT! That's why it didn't didn't work back then!" Mike exclaims.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Mike?" Richie yells, anger prominent in his voice. "We hurt him." Mike's voice is small, begging for us not to be mad, a lot like Eddie back in the house. "Fuck!" Richie exclaims, turning back to the clown.

"Fuck you, Mikey." Bill exclaims. Okay, with how many times Bill has called Mike 'Mikey,' I'd say there's something going on between those two. "I needed something, anything, for us to remember. Anything for us to believe!" Mike's voice is still pleading, but not as weak anymore.

Three balls of blue light shoot out of the ritual thingy, which is still in the middle of the circle of rock things. "The deadlights! Don't look at them!" Beverly exclaims, and we all turn away. "For 27 years, I dreamt of you, I craved you. Oh, I've missed you!" Pennywise exclaims, crawling out of the circle on four crablike claws, two more hanging out in front of him.

"Mike! Move back!" Ben exclaims as we all back away. Mike doesn't budge though. "Waiting for this very moment." Pennywise continues, stopping. "Mikey! You gotta move, Mikey!" Bill exclaims as we continue to move away from that stupid clown. "Sorry. I'm sorry, guys." Mike says quietly, almost a whisper. You wouldn't really be able to hear it unless you were really listening.

"Mike, come on, man!" Eddie exclaims. At this moment we don't care that Mike lied to us, we still don't want him to die. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Mike continues to apologize, still not moving. He just stares as Pennywise moves closer to him. "Time to float." Pennywise states, still moving closer.

Pennywise picks up one of his claws, plunging it down at Mike. Luckily Bill jumps in and pushes him out of the way at the last minute. "Mike, come on, get up! Get him up!" Eddie exclaims as Bill helps Mike to stand. "Go, go!" Bill exclaims as we all run away from the clown.

We all exclaim various things as we do, such as "Run!" "Oh, shit!" And "Go, go, go!" Pennywise runs after us on all fours, swinging his claw arm around, trying to hit us. Luckily he fails, hitting the rock circle thing.

Pennywise slams his arm down on the ground, making us all scatter in various places. Eddie and Richie go one way, Ben and Bev going another. I'm left alone, as is Mike and Bill. Bill jumps into a hole in the wall, water at the bottom. While Pennywise is preoccupied with him, I keep running, until I reach another turn off. I turn down it and run quickly.

I soon reach a dead end, panicking as I see Pennywise's claws shoot after me. The ground drops out from under me, much like it did to Ben while we were trying to find the clubhouse. I flail about in the air, trying to find something to grab onto so I'll stop falling. No such luck comes, though. Until I hit the ground abruptly, knocking all the air out of my lungs.

I gasp for breath as I lay on the ground for a minute. I'm in a dark room, my flashlight nowhere to be seen. Although the dark room soon morphs into my childhood bedroom. I'm standing in the middle of the room, facing the door. It soon opens to reveal my father. "Nobody will ever love you, disgusting queer." His head shakes around rapidly as it transforms from his to my mothers. "Fucking dyke." Tears burn the back of my eyes.

It shakes again, revealing Beverly. Young Beverly. The tears in my eyes threaten to be released. "You think I could ever actually love you? I'm not a fag like you are." It shakes again, and I close my eyes, covering my ears tightly. I shake my head as it speaks, repeating the same words over and over. "It's not real."

I feel myself getting lifted off the ground again, my feet soon finding home in the dead-end hallway I was in before. A tear rolls down my cheek harshly and I wipe it away quickly, digging the palms of my hands into my eyes to prevent more from escaping.

I hear Pennywise's laughter, making me break into a sprint back into the main area. A rock hits Pennywise in the face right as I enter, making him turn his head to the source. "Hey, fuckface!"


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey, fuckface!" Richie calls out, making Pennywise throw Mike against a wall as he turns to face Richie. "You wanna play truth or dare? Here's a truth. You're a sloppy bitch. Yeah, that's right. Yippee-ki-yay mother-" He's cut off as Pennywise opens his mouth, unhinging his jaw and showing Richie the deadlights.

I sigh, knowing this isn't going to end well, and make my way up to the little rock platform Richie is on. I can hear brief murmurs of what's happened out there, no longer being able to see them. I finally get up there, and Richie is still there, just now he's in the air. Eddie stands in the little doorway type area that I emerged in as well.

He looks down at the spike Beverly handed him a while back. I can't believe he still has that thing. "This kills monsters. If you believe it does. If you believe it does. If you believe it does." He repeats, grasping the thing tightly. He takes a deep breath and walks out onto the little platform Richie was just standing on. "Beep-beep motherfucker!" He exclaims, raising his arm above his head and throwing it at the clown.

It hits the clown right in the mouth, making it choke and fall backwards. Richie plummets to the ground, landing abruptly on the ground. Eddie climbs on top of him, straddling his thighs. "Hey, Richie, listen, I think I got him, man! I think I killed IT! I did! I think I killed IT for real!" As Eddie's celebrating with Richie, Pennywise is getting up off the spike he landed on when he fell over.

IT shoots out one of IT's claws, aiming for Eddie. I run forward and push him out of the way, somehow ending up in the same position he was in, straddling Richie's thighs. Before I have time to get up, IT's claw impales me right through the stomach.

My body joltes forward a little from the force, blood seeping out of my mouth. "Y/N!" Richie exclaims as I'm pulled off of his body. I'm swung through the air as Pennywise tries to get me off of his claw, finally flying off and hitting a wall before rolling down a hole.

The pain is excruciating. Blood seeps out of my stomach and mouth, staining my clothes. The others all rush down into the hole where I'm laying, panic clear in their voices. "Y/N!" Richie helps me to sit up, taking off his jacket and placing it over the gaping hole going directly through my stomach.

"Y/N, oh my God that was so stupid! You didn't have to do that!" Eddie exclaims. I smile weakly at him. "Yeah, I did." He continues to shake his head but doesn't protest other than that. What's done is done, nothing he says can fix it.

There are loud pounding noises above us as Pennywise attempts to get in the hole. "Come out and play, Losers!" I breath heavily, the pain becoming worse by every passing second. "You guys, you have to defeat him. The quicker you do, the quicker we can get out of here." I state with some difficulty.

"We have to get you out of here first." Richie states. "How are we supposed to do that, Richie?" Bill asks. Beverly cowers a little a Pennywise continues to beat the rocks above us, making the entrance to the hole larger. "The Shokopiwa." Mike states, making us all turn to him. "All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit." Mike explains, and I nod.

It hurts to do so, but I do anyway, disregarding the pain. "Guys!" Ben shouts. "There's a passageway. Through here." He explains. "The tunnel." Beverly exclaims, hope in her voice. "Pennywise has to make himself small to get through the entrance of the cavern, right? Okay, so, if we can get back there, we can force him down to size." She explains. It makes sense, actually. "We make him small. Small enough so we can kill him."

"I can smell the stink of your fear!" Pennywise laughs. "Let's go! Go!" Mike exclaims. "It's tight. It's tight. Be careful." Ben explains as the others make their way through. Ben and Richie lift me, carrying me through and leaning me against some rocks right at the entrance of the cavern. "Thanks." I murmur, groaning in pain as they lean me against the rocks.

Richie crouches down in front of me. "Hey," I close my eyes, the pain becoming almost unbearable. "Hey, Richie. Can I talk to Bev real quick?" I'm sure he nods, but I don't see it. I'm soon greeted with the sweet sound of her voice. "Hey, Y/N." Her voice is gentle, soft. I smile at the sound. "Hey, Bev." I'm sure she opens her mouth to speak, but I place a finger over her mouth weakly, shushing her.

"Shh. Me first." I open my eyes to see her nod. I don't close them back, though. "I was never mad, Bev, so don't ever think that, okay? I was sad and disappointed that you chose Bill over me, but I respect your decision, because I just want you to be happy." She smiles a little. "I know I'm not going to make it out of here," Her smile falters as I say that. "Y/N, don't say that." I shake my head.

"I'm only speaking the truth, Bev." At that, her smile drops completely. "I just, have some things I want to say before I go into the light that is quickly approaching." She nods her head, not protesting anymore. "Take care of Luke for me, yeah?" She nods. "Be the mother he deserves. Richie'll tell you where I live. The babysitter trusts him, so she'll listen when he says I'm not coming back and you're Luke's godmother." She nods once again. "There's a paper on my bed at the inn, that's the letter you sent me the day you left. I unfortunatly don't have the necklace anymore, but I want you to have the letter. There's also a picture of Richie and I as kids. Give that to him, yeah?" She nods as I spit out this information as quickly as I can.

"I love you. Now go fight that thing. For me." She nods, wiping the blood away from my mouth gently with the jacket Richie gave me before planting a gently kiss on my lips and walking away. She sends me once last glance before walking away, and I smile. With that, I close my eyes and graciously accept the warmth that hugs me as the light of death envelops me.

I've lived a good life.


End file.
